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3w ago

Alberta Imposes Provincewide Ban on Sexually Explicit School Library Books

The directive compels boards to purge detailed sexual depictions by October and establish transparent selection and review policies for libraries by January 2026.

Demetrios Nicolaides, Alberta's Minister of Education and Childcare, will require all school boards to create or update policies to restrict books the province deems sexually explicit.
school library
Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides is adding survey findings to the development of standards on age-appropriate content in school libraries.

Overview

  • The order defines explicit sexual content as detailed, clear depictions of sexual acts and bans those materials from all school libraries.
  • School boards must remove banned titles by October 1 and publish publicly available selection and review policies by January 1, 2026.
  • The standards enforce age-tiered access, barring students in grades K–9 from any sexual content and allowing grades 10–12 to access non-explicit materials deemed age appropriate.
  • The rules apply to public, separate, francophone, charter and independent schools but exempt municipal libraries within schools and teacher-selected classroom resources.
  • An online survey of over 77,000 respondents showed majority opposition, and while some trustees endorse the new rules, educators’ associations and the NDP criticise the policy for politicizing library selections and overlooking funding shortfalls.